This year, six to eight million animals will be killed everv month
in our nation's commercial, military, and federally-funded university
laboratories. That's up to nearly 100 million animal lives lost. Why?
At a cost running into the billions of tax and consumer dollars,
animal experimentation has become a habit - a very bad habit - one
that is often scientifically unnecessary. medically unreliable and
always undeniably cruel. Particularly cruel are the tests to which
roughly 10 million animals are subjected each year to test new product
s. For example: The household products industry determines the poison
level of floor wax and detergents by injecting gallons of these
substances into the stomachs, or under the skin, of beagles, rabbits,
rats, and monkeys... producing vomiting, diarrhea, respiratory
distress, convulsions and paralysis. There is a so-called Lethal Dose
50 test. which ends only when half of the animals have died - with no
anesthesia or painkillers. The cosmetics industry subjects rabbits,
their heads immobilized in "stocks," to the infamous Draize test. The
rabbits' eyes are smeared with drugs, nail polish remover, hair spray
or shampoo ... and since rabbits have no tear ducts, they cannot wash
their eyes clean. The predictable: ulcers, hemorrhaging. and blindness.
These tests become even more nightmarish when you realize that they
are unnecessary. New technologies offer us proven alternatives that
are far cheaper. more exact. and more humane. Like sophisticated
computer assays, simulated tissue and body fluids, live cell cultures,
mass spectrometry and gas chromatography - not to mention the use of
cadavers - which the American Ophthalmology Association calls our
"most ignored and valued research tool."But that is only part~ of the
story. The victims of these and many other equally cruel and painful
tests include horses and lambs, calves, cows, pigs, goats, doves,
kittens, mice, turtles, other wildlife and man's closest living
relative - the chimpanzee. No living being is exempt. Not even "man's
best friend." As a matter of fact, your own dog or cat could easily
become one of these victims ... because each year, "pound seizure"
laws force unwilling animal shelters to turn over some 200.000 lost
cats or dogs to experimentation. But make no mistake. Wherever these
animals come from, they all are sensitive, vulnerable beings with
distinct personalities. And just like you and me, they are capable of
suffering the pain of poisoning. loneliness. fear and confusion even
if they cannot express their agony in words. That's why PETA has been
fighting for years now, often in dramatic and dangerous settings, to
establish their rights ... And today, the tide of public opinion has
begun to shift. Why? Because the facts are absolutely compelling.
Apologists for animal abuse keep trying to convince us that animal
pain is a small price to pay "in the name of science."
But the sad truth is, live animal experiments can be totally
unreliable. A dog, a cat, a monkey, and a guinea pig all have vastly
different physiologies from each other. And from humans, too. Even a
former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration admits.
"Compared to most contemporary biological techniques. animal testing
is crude. cumbersome. and expensive." Test results based on animal
reactions can also be terribly misleading. Particularly after the
stress and fatigue of isolation and laboratory life grossly distort
their reactions. That's why drugs like thalidomide and swine flu
vaccine both of which passed animal "safety" tests with flying colors
have resulted in thousands of human deaths and deformities... and
much unnecessary suffering, both animal and human. And still, we
constantly hear of other "safe" drugs being withdrawn from the market
following fatal side effects on humans. Most organizations that use
live animals for testing never even bother to consider alternatives.
The fact is, most experimenters simply cling to familiar habits out
of ignorance, apathy or vested interest. And they keep right on
churning out the same duplicative research year after year that costs
animals' lives ... while you and I pay for it. The powerful animal
supply industry actively encourages this waste. Huge, international
conglomerates not only breed animals on U.S. "farms," but trap 25,000
baby primates a year in foreign jungles, helping to decimate their
native population, and pushing many species to the brink of
extinction. So you see, reforming animal research makes good sense.
And it makes good science ... but it takes pressure from people like
you to get our elected representatives to enforce this logic. To this
day, there is absolutely no restriction whatsoever on the uses to
which experimenters may put their helpless victims ... once they get
behind the closed doors of a laboratory. But - thanks to the kind of
direct action and public education campaigns PETA has sponsored this
abysmal situation could soon changed. As a result of PETA's expose's,
boycotts, and considerable ~ Avon and Estee Lauder, leaders in the
cosmetics industry, yielded to compassionate consumers' demands~ and
agreed to stop all product testing on animals. And most recently,
Gillette, long a target of PETA's unrelenting attacks, has finally
announced a moratorium on animal testing! PETA revealed how General
Motors, the giant car manufacturer, was the only automaker in the
world to use animals in crash tests... "impacting" to death primates,
ferrets, dogs, and other animals. Our international campaign, along
with widespread consumer pressure, led GM to announce in 1993 that it
had ended all "animal trauma research" activity! Scores of
international oil companies submitted to PETA and consumers' demands
afier our expose' revealed that tens of thousands of birds and bats
were burning to death in open oil production exhaust stacks. Today,
corporate giants Mobil, Texaco, Pennzoil, Phillips Petroleum, Shell,
and recently, Exxon, have yielded to pressure and agreed to cap all
open exhaust stacks! PETA distributed a humane education program for
every elementary school in the U.S., public and private. Developed to
teach children compassion for animals, this unique program reached
more than nine million schoolchildren. These are just a few of PETA's
stunning triumphs on behalf of our animal friends. But to win a
permanent end to the undeclared - yet very real war on animals, we
need your help as a caring animal lover. write or call the world's
largest consumer products manufacturer that continues to conduct
hideously cruel animal tests, Procter & Gamble. Tell Procter & Gamble
you will not buy its products until it stops testing on animals. Also,
return your used Procter & Gamble products and demand a refund.
Contact Mr. John Pepper, Chairperson of the Board and CEO, Procter &
Gamble, 1 Procter & Gamble Plaza, Cincinnati, OH 45202;
1-800-543-1745